I have issues, Sounders...maybe not

I have tries a couple times (although not lately until today) to post comments with my predictions.  Today was one of those. It appears I have not mastered the interents enough to get it right as my Sounders loss of 2 - 0 prediction didn't make it on the previous post by Jonathon.  Goal scores obviously don't matter so whatever.  I'll figure this out

That said, glad the boys proved me wrong tonight.  The first 25 - 30 min were great.  We were moving with and without the ball.  Midfield was solid, Nyassi was a beast, Montero was all over the place, and even Stugis look adequate.  I am excited about the Nkufo- Monetro connection, looked solid today.  El Flaco was fun to watch and will bring some interesting looks to the midfield. (BTW, looks like we avoided the 3rd DP fee due to how things fell out but am I still not sure about that one).

With FeddyL gone I am thinking the team has been more cohesive.  they are playing hard and looking like the Sounders of old.  While I love what F10 did for the Sounders season 1, I am glad he has moved on.  The youth movement we have going is great.  Having El Flaco for the next 18 months will be interesting.  Rumors of Montero becoming our 3rd DP have started.  I am not sure he is worth that but based on his play since the WC break, he is gaining my love.

On to San Salvador (guess we are playing there due to stadium limitations of the opponents stadium).  I am hoping we put out a solid team and keep the charge going for the International cup (Keller will play Jon and Troy).  That said, we are in the playoff mix again and need to keep that going strong as well.

Bring on Houston....another victory in the West...come on boys. (BTW - I will pick them to lose since they always do the opposite of what I pick)

What lurks ahead

Today we signed a Uruguayan midfielder (welcome Senor Fernandez) as a third DP.

Last night we squeaked by Metapan with an unconvincing 1-0 win off what should've been a routine save for the keeper.

Last week, Keller's Save of the Week kept us from tying a Colorado squad who dominated the second half of the match.

What's on tap? A new podcast tonight, a trip to San Jose and a big bunch of rumors about our Swede. And if that's not enough, we travel to El Salvador for the second leg of the CCL qualifier.

But you know all this already, right? What you may not know is things are in the works for next season...many, many things. All of which will be revealed here as things fall into place. One thing I can announce (I wouldn't want to be accused of stringing EVERYTHING along indefinitely) is a Prediction League for Tribe 131 in mfls.com. This will allow all the members of the Tribe (and whoever else wishes to join us) compete head to head for predicting the results of not only the Sounders, but each and every MLS match. While Troy and I are remaining fairly close in the league here, Troy is delivering quite the beat down to me in the mfls Prediction League currently.

The standings as they are:

Troy: 23 (correct result and scoreline)
Jon: 22 (correct result and one goal scorer)
KP: 17

More news to come as details become solid...stay tuned.

We won! Told ya so.

No, I wasn't expecting the Stache to score (or even play for that matter), but neither did I expect Baby Giraffe to once again be broken. Nor did I expect the Spanish Inquisition. Neither here nor there.

Did we deserve the win? Not so much. Am I thrilled we got it? To my toes.

Some solid defending (although as soon as Marshall returned to the fold, I noted several long balls to no one in particular -- I can't be the ONLY one who notices this can I, Sigi?), great goalkeeping and Montero making Nyassi's bad pass into a thing of beauty.

Goal of the Week nomination, anyone?

Prediction League standings:

Troy: 21
Jonathon: 20
KP: 17

Another tie that burns like a loss

Not much to say this time. If consistency is something which is appreciated at the professional level, then let's simply ask USSF to demand the officials read from the same playbook. As a USSF official, I know it is emphasized (consistency across officials, that is), but I am also aware of the large disparity between officials at the same level.

Do I have a point? I do. The players need to adapt to the style of a particular referee and the referee needs to use his common sense to apply the Laws of the Game fairly to the players. Am I suggesting the ejection of Montano was inconsistent? To the way in which the game was being played, a bit. Does the two footed tackle by Shea on Riley later demand a second yellow? More than likely. Did the game NEED the ejection? Sure didn't seem like it. Again, from my interpretation of the match to that point.

Am I biased as a Sounders fan? Yes, but I try to be objective and saved this post until I watched the replay of the match. The reaction from Montano was not appropriate yet neither was the initial tackle from Shea. Miguel did not get up and throw a punch, a shove, etc. If the blow did, in fact, hit Shea in the head, then a red is required. If it didn't and Shea was embellishing (which we all know players are apt to do), then a caution would've sufficed. The fact that the incident took place in front of the bench didn't help matters (for Montano).

Prediction league update:

Troy and I both picked up points this week, (2 a piece, Troy for result and score, me for two goal scorers).

Troy: 21
Jonathon: 19
KP: 17

Maybe Estrada will travel to D.C. and make us proud?

Keeping the momentum

Looks like we'll be without F10 this Sunday.  I personally think that will be helpful to the team.. He has not been all that effective if you ask me.

I am hoping the boys keep the swagger they had against LA in the Open Cup.  I think we should see some different starters on the pitch (of course since F10 is out).  I am hoping to see Seamon, Montano, and someone besides Park in the back (Ianni).  Here is what I am hoping to see out there

Keller

Riley   Ianni   Marshal   Gonzalez

Zak   Seamon   Sturgis   Montano
Jaqua   Montero

The midfield was hard to pick, do you go with a Sturgis or a Vagenas?  I can't wait for Alonso to get back, and even B-Rad cause we just don't have the midfield to win games.

Now with all that said, I am going to pick the boys to keep the winning ways going.  This is because I think Keller will be back on his game and Jaqua being back will help plenty.  Sounders 2 - 1 over Dallas with goals coming from Zak and Jaqua for the home team and Harris for Dallas.

Interested in others lineup ideas...

Away in Portland

I have come to really like the US Open Cup, maybe even more than the regular season, far more than friendlies. It has quirks like limiting the number of international players and keeping me up too late on school nights, but I like the notion of it being open to teams of any level. Last week the Sounders headed down I-5 to take on the Timbers in Portland and I was lucky enough to go.

Before I left I did a lot of reading from online forums, both pro-Seattle and pro-Portland, and let me tell you there is a LOT of hate transmitted. Pretty much all I read was "Shittle" this and "Portscum" that. The funny thing was the Portland(scum) fans wrote for the benefit of their brethren rather than pointing their venom at Seattle fans the reverse was also true. Kinda like a tree preaching to an empty forest, if you follow me. No matter, it was entertaining. I did learn that the Emerald City Supporters were sponsoring a number of rooter-buses, which seemed like a good way to get there. Especially since they promised to have kegs aboard. In the end I opted not to take the bus since I didn't want to immerse myself in too much drunken angst.

No one from the tribe could make it, so I asked my buddy Niki to come along in the dual role of chauffeur and body guard. She isn't the world's biggest soccer fan but likes Portland and had the day free. We piled into the car and aimed ourselves at the I-5 corridor. It's a long drive but Niki and I are two jabber-jaws so the time passed quickly. My goal was to get down there as early as possible and make a day of it, rather than just getting there in time for the game then turning around and heading right back.

Even with Grandma Ragsdale driving we made great time and reached Portland around 2:00. We both had a couple of places we wanted to visit but agreed to stop for game tickets first. We found parking in a building a couple of blocks from PGE park. It can't really be called a parking garage, the best way to describe it would be to call it a basement. I was a bit leery of leaving the car because I was afraid they would lock the place before the game was over and we'd be stuck. But Niki called the posted number and was assured that we wouldn't be trapped and that we only had to pay the evening rate, a mere four bucks. We just had to leave it in the drop box. But there were no envelopes with which to pay. Luckily, the basement was a mess so we scavenged some string from a rubbish heap and tied the cash in a folded sheet of paper to stuff in the pay slot.

Our first stop was the back door of PGE park. I had called their ticket office the day before and found out that away-supporters would have a segregated entrance in the back, for us riff-raff, so we headed that way to buy the tickets. I'm glad we did. We took a stroll around the stadium and I spotted an open door up a stairway. Through the door I could see autographed baseballs on the wall and some other sports memorabilia. For some reason I stepped completely out of character and became bold enough to climb the stairs and poke my head in to have a look. It turned out to be the Timbers business office and the woman there was fantastic. Niki followed me up and the three of us began chatting. Mostly about the Sounders-Timbers rivalry, but also about Timber Joey (the new lumberjack) and stadium renovation and how the Beavers minor league baseball team is being sold down the river in favor of the Timbers' promotion to MLS. She let me take photos of the room then gave us a behind the scenes tour, including admission to a luxury suite. So I will go on the record here saying Timber fans can be assholes (can be, not always are) but their employees are great. For the life of me, I can't see me ever getting a spontaneous tour of Qwest Field.

We rode the Max toward the river to peek around and ended up rinsing our hot feet in the Bill Niato Legacy Fountain. The fountain is located just outside a sewage treatment plant which seemed odd. It (the fountain not the sewage plant) is dedicated to the native people of the Portland area and is meant as a play area for children. Neither of us are Native American nor very young but we were both born in the country so we figured we could use it. Not far from there, during our search for dinner, we spotted some friendly people (Sounders fans) and asked advice for a place to eat. They didn't have any information about real food but let us know Voodoo Donuts was just around the block.

I am not a fan of waiting in line to eat. If I have any say in the matter I won't do it. Sadly, life's choices are not always mine alone. Voodoo Donuts is somewhat famous and it had a line - for donuts! I could neither eat a donut nor wait to do so on an empty stomach so we crossed the street in search of refreshment. We immediately found cheap pizza and a beer served by a bartender who was so friendly he kicked us out. He said it was too nice for anyone to eat inside so we took our dinner to the sidewalk tables. It was truly a beautiful day. Beer, food, sun, plus famous donuts and a rivalry soccer game on the horizon. As we ate we chatted with three gals at the next table and fed scraps to their three-legged dog. I'm a sucker for dogs so would have fed him even if he cut his begging in half, and I didn't notice the missing leg until he stood. He was determined to eat my pizza, but I told him he'd have to wait until his owner wasn't looking. She didn't like him begging but didn't care if we fed him, so he got most of our crusts.

Bellies full, we hopped the train back toward the stadium. We made a quick stop at the car for my do-it-yourself Sounders/CHiPs shirt and made for the stadium's service entrance. I didn't want to look like a Sounders fan so as to avoid a tussle, thus we paraded around town as innocent tourists. I didn't really expect trouble, but I know you can count on at least one idiot who wants to pretend he's a real European football hooligan. Especially after he's had a few.

They turned out in droves. Inside the stadium there was much taunting, some of it good natured. But from what we could tell it was not safe for out-of-towners in the smoking area. Those people seemed downright violent. Of course they may have just been going through nicotine withdrawal. Seattle fans were put in a couple of sections well away from the Timbers Army, but just across an open stairway from other home fans. When I visited DC we were segregated way upstairs, well away from everyone. PGE Park isn't big enough for that, and it really isn't necessary. Strangely though, after the section was filled some security people came and kicked everyone out of the first twelve rows. It was supposed to be general admission seating, but the tickets had seat numbers. Mine was well down in the roped-off area. I asked why we had to move but wasn't given much of an answer. I can only guess it was because they wanted us further from the field to make it harder to throw things. It didn't seem the best way to treat out-of-town guests, that's all I'm saying. But I didn't mind, we just moved up a section to be behind and above the drums and flags. Away from the lunacy and with an unobstructed view.

We also had a good view of the drunks. My guess is the average age of the rooter-bus riders was somewhere around twenty-two. Prime drinking age, and still young enough to get silly. By silly I mean stupid. Many a "fuck you" was traded across the aisle, and one memorable twerp in a Seattle jersey all but begged his friends to hold him back before he would have to cross the non-existent barrier to kick some butt. Alcohol, it would appear, acts as open tap for testosterone. But there were only two actual scuffles that I saw. The better of them was after the game when a Portland backer punched a woman from Seattle. I don't know if she actually deserved to be assaulted. She may have said something, was certainly wearing the wrong color or most likely had just been too near an asshole. I'm not sure what the Portland statutes are for justifiable public beatings.

All in all, a fantastic trip and I can't wait for next season to do it again. Next time, though, it will be a league game so hopefully it will take place on a weekend. We didn't get home 'til 4:00 am, and luckily Niki did most of the driving north. Though I never fell asleep, had I been in the drivers seat we would have crashed. I am happy to say I both survived the trip and made a convert of Niki.

What coulda been good...

All right,

I'm not sure how many of the Tribe is going to agree with me on this, but we played better the second half. So much so, we probably deserved a point. And I'd like to say I believe Riley's own goal is Keller's fault. The cross came in through the six, passed two players. Unless Kasey was screened by these two bodies and was caught completely off-guard, he SHOULD'VE called Riley off. That is his goal area and simply the fact he collided with Riley, proves he was close enough to at least make the attempt to collect the ball. Yes, Donovan was behind Riley so Riley should've screened Landon away while Keller controlled his area. This would make the third soft goal Kasey has given up this season.

Am I suggesting Kasey be benched? No. Certainly not. He is an excellent keeper but I fear his leadership and confidence is suffering this year. Perhaps the loss of Alonso cuts deeper than the rest of the defense is able to fathom.

The addition of Seamon into our line-up last night, I thought, should've taken place at half-time. Had it, would LA have scored their second goal? Who knows? Though you can ask my wife, whether I suggested that exact change at half-time (I did, as well as Jaqua for Noonan -- Sigi only half heard my plea).

Prediction league standings:

Troy: 19
KP: 17
Jonathon: 17
Bocasounders: 6
Jason: 2

One last nugget of joy; I will suspend listing results for those who do not submit predictions prior to matches. Not to be poopy, just so I can keep record simpler.